Page 35 of Theoden
CHAPTER ELEVEN
TITUS’ LESSONS
I may have been a little too hasty in claiming I was ready for Titus’s training. We started right after feeding off the human slaves Ara had in his cells. Ara didn’t allow my brothers to have sex with me. He wanted me to immediately start my training. Titus didn’t restrain as he pummeled me into a bloody mess.
“Get up!” he ordered. “You were the church’s great warrior, though I am not impressed. You fight worse than the cunts I shared the gladiator arena with.”
“I do not have your strength or speed,” I stated.
“Stop whining, boy,” Titus said. “Those vampires you killed deserved to die if you were the last person they saw. Weaklings from King Nexus’ brood. You would never had killed any vampire in our Father’s brood.”
“There is more than one king?” I asked. I had only known of Ara and thought him to be the only one and all vampires stemmed from him.
Titus laughed. “Yes, boy. There are twelve, ten men and two women. The church either fed you more lies or they did not know. Either way, I would not be surprised.”
“Do you know them?” I asked.
“Not really. We are rarely allowed to travel to other vampire royalty territories. Get up, you need all of the training you can get.”
I had so many questions, but I had to push them away. I was finally able to rise once my ribs had mended themselves. He had broken several of them with the last blow he had dealt that sent me crashing into the wall. We were in a great hall, one where men had trained with various weapons over the years. One with stone walls that told the tale of vicious battles. My own body had added to the tale every time I was thrown into them.
I swallowed the blood in my mouth and charged toward Titus once more, sword raised high above my head. The steel clashed in a deafening roar as I brought my blade down on him and he countered with his own sword. We fought so savagely, you could see the sparks flash as our swords struck.
“Better!” Titus announced as we both battled for advantage.
I saw an opening I wanted to take, one that would put me as the victor of this lesson. I aimed for what I assumed was Titus’ weakness and he countered with a hellish blow to the back of my head. I saw a flash of light before I crashed to the floor, my sword falling from my hands.
“Foolish boy!” Titus roared just as he stabbed me through my back with the blade of his sword, pinning me to the floor.
“Ahhhhh!!!” I screamed in agony as I felt the blade pierce my heart. Blood bubbled up from my mouth as my lungs filled with the fluid.
“Yes, feel the pain of your failure,” Titus said. “Had this blade been made of silver, you would be dead.”
“Pa—please—please, Titus, take it out,” I begged.
“You take it out, show me the strength of your survival skills,” he commanded.
There was no way I could remove the blade with my hands, as it was lodged in my body where I couldn’t reach it. I knew only one way I could free myself and it would be most painful. I braced myself against the floor, then started to slowly push myself up. The blade of the sword moved through my body until I reached the hilt. I grunted and growled in pain as I pushed harder, forcing the blade out of the stone floor until I was able to sit up.
I knew I wasn’t done, as the sword was still embedded in my chest, but I was able to marvel for just a few seconds at the fact that I was still alive. I had a sword protruding through my chest, its blade had pierced my heart, and yet I still lived. Had I been human, I would have died instantly. This was yet another gift Ara had granted me when heembracedme.
“Finish it,” Titus commanded, and I knew what he meant. “You are taking your sweet time, brother. In a battle, you will have to move faster unless you want your enemy to behead you while you catch your breath.”
Oh shit! I was beginning to understand that fighting as a warrior for the Church as a human was far different than fighting as a vampire. I had to get this sword out of my body and it was going to be agonizing, but I had no choice. I leaned forward, putting the pointed end of the blade against the stone tiles, and began to push the blade from my back, screaming in pain as I did until the blade was where I could reach it.
I pulled it out finally and tossed it away, then turned to look at Titus. “Was such a lesson necessary, brother?” I rubbed the sore spot on my chest where my wound was healing. I realize that his sword had pierced me perfectly through my torso, and manage to avoid any bone. Probably why I healed faster.
He nodded. “If you allowed yourself to be stabbed in the back, little brother, then you deserved to learn the lesson.”
“I thought I saw an opening,” I said.
“I wanted you to believe that you had. If your enemy believes he can take the advantage, it can be your time to strike. I purposely left my right side open to you. I wanted you to think you saw a weakness in my defense. I knew you would go for it and thus, I could make my killing blow on you,” Titus said.
As he spoke, I thought back to the moment where I made my mistake. He was so fast with his counter and I realized I never had a chance of defeating him. It was a brilliant maneuver and one that I didn’t foresee.
“You have shown potential,” Titus said, then reached down, offering me his hand.
I took it and he pulled me to my feet. “I feel weak,” I said, swaying slightly.
